Angels
by Dr. Royal We
Summary: Teacher by day, hospital patient by night... Harry is pulled into the strange life of Severus Snape.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the "plot"

Harry Hurt. His right hand was being repaired with skel-grow due to a Quidditch accident, and Madame Pomphrey had refused to give him dreamless sleep potion because of it's addictive properties. As he lay awake, the hospital wing doors creaked open and Dumbledore stepped through. He (Dumbledore) walked to the bed next to Harry's, which was surrounded by curtains and from which there had been no sound, nor any visitors.

"You must do this, child," Said the Headmaster's comforting voice from behind the curtain. There was a small groan.

"You must. Think of the children, the lives you could save!"

"No." This brief reply was a deep, silky baritone that could only belong to one person. Harry's eyes snapped open. SNAPE!

"You are being childish, son,"

"Am not!" Severus' voice was petulant. "You always come to me when I am in here, when you think I am weak, and try to convince me. Has it yet worked? NO!"

The strange conversation had piqued Harry's curiosity, and his listening efforts were doubled.

"Severus, it is a selfish thing to give away the lives of children because of your fears," The softness had gone from Dumbledore's voice, and Harry imagined that the twinkle had also vanished from his eyes.

" I am not a good person, Headmaster. You must think of a better argument than 'Oh the children!' to convince me. Your little manipulations are not effective anymore!" Severus' voice rose significantly in volume with his little rant, until he was almost shouting. Dumbledore clicked his tongue reproachfully.

"Now, Severus, be reasonable-" Harry squeezed his eyes shut tightly as Madame Pomphrey rushed to the bed and pulled back the curtains.

"Get out! I'm sorry Headmaster, but I can't let you upset my patients! Out! Out!"

The nurse shooed Dumbledore out of the ward, quite forgetting to close the curtains on the potion master's bed. Harry opened his eyes when the danger passed, and studied the man on the bed with a horrified eye.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Professor Snape was lying in the white hospital bed totally naked and covered by a thin, scratchy sheet. His sallow skin was translucent under the harsh hospital lights, and his veins could clearly be seen spider-webbing under the skin of his arms and face. His ribs formed a sharp mountain range, and the patched jagged places where a few had been broken and healed wrong were also visible. His cheeks were sunken in casting deep shadows over his face, his normally high cheekbones jutting out from his face even more unnaturally. His eyes were hollow, with bruised shadows underneath. One skeletal arm was tied down with magical restraints, and an I.V. dripped an acidic yellow potion into the thin blood vessels struggling to pump his blood around his body. On top of all this, the waif-like body was criss-crossed in silver and white over the veins were the lines of scars, some obviously old glowing silver, and much more recent ones inflamed in an angry red. His typical billowing black robes and wand were nowhere to be seen.

As sick as he looked, Harry had to admit that he didn't _act_ sick.

"I am FINE, woman! Let me go, let me GO, let me _GO!" _ He was shouting like a petulant child being forced to take a bath or swallow his nightly fish-oil.

"Severus!" Madame Pomphrey cried exasperatedly, but didn't get a reaction. She steeled herself and shouted as loud as she could. (Harry noticed she cast a muffliato over them as not to wake the other sleeping patients.)

"Severus Tobias SNAPE! You be quiet THIS INSTANT, and let me help you! Or so help me you find yourself stuck in racing car pyjamas like the 3 year old child you're acting like!"

Severus stopped shouting very quickly, but turned his head away from Madame Pomphrey in an obvious pout, screwing up his eyes and wrinkling his nose He 'hmmphed' in such a childish manner that Madame Pomphrey rolled her eyes and prayed that he would be healed soon, just so that she wouldn't have to deal with his horribly stubborn behaviour. The aged medi-witch busied herself administering various salves and potions. Severus tensed suddenly and opened his eyes very slowly, sliding them in a terrifying way from the door where they'd been previously trained to looking directly at Harry,. The young wizard was too paralyzed by fear to pretend to be asleep. Also very slowly and deliberately, so there could be no mistake of misunderstanding Severus mouthed the words:

"If you say anything, Potter, I will kill you."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well that took a while to update! Y'know, pretty much a year…. I'M REALLY REALLY SORRY! Reviews=Love! :D**

Harry was perfectly fine the next day and was promptly kicked out of the hospital wing. As he was leaving, he glanced at the bed next to his and found it empty and clean as if nobody had ever slept there.

Throughout the day, Harry's thoughts kept returning to Professor Snape. No matter how much he told himself that it wasn't his business, he couldn't shake the image of the obviously very ill teacher. However, he was somewhat glad that he didn't have Potions on that particular day, because he was sure that Professor Snape was still infuriated by what Harry had seen.

It never occurred to Harry that he should tell his friends or ask for advice, and he made up his mind halfway through Charms to sneak into the hospital wing to see if Snape was there again. He had gotten the impression the night before that Snape's being there was a rather regular occurrence.

0000

It was midnight, and Harry was hidden safely under his invisibility cloak. He had snuck down the stairs and was now standing in front of the hospital wing doors waiting for somebody to enter or leave. He didn't have too long to wait- a third year Hufflepuff came escorted by a younger friend who had apparently gotten the flu. Harry slipped through the doors behind them, and stood for a moment taking in the scene.

There were several people who had some sort of stomach bug, a Ravenclaw Quidditch player with a large bottle of Skel-Grow by his bed, the two Hufflepuffs, a first year in his pajamas sound asleep, and a bed with all the curtains pulled around it.

_There._ That must be Professor Snape! Harry walked over to the bed, before realizing that he had absolutely no plan whatsoever. He had no clue why he had come here, except that he wanted to learn more. Snape didn't look that sick during class, so what was he doing being all pale and fragile at night? Lost in thought, Harry had to jump out of the way as Madame Pomphry bustled over and pulled open the curtains.

"Severus," she said gravely, "bad news."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm really so sorry this took so long! I've just been really busy with school and fencing, so there hasn't been much time to write. Also the whole lack of inspiration thing kinda contributed.**

Professor Snape groaned in exasperation and rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

"You always say that, Madame Pomphrey…" he muttered. "It's never really that bad at all!"

"Well this time it is!" the nurse exclaimed. "All of those potions and glamour charms you've been using to make yourself functional are starting to take a toll and suck out your life force. You aren't healthy, so stop trying to force yourself to be!"

The Professor didn't say anything for a long time, and Harry began to be uncomfortable on his feet. Finally Snape sighed and nodded.

"Fine, I will stay here for a few days. Do not get a substitute for my classes. And don't look upon this as a victory for you! I am doing this against my will."

Madame Pomphrey obviously wasn't listening to him, because she smirked as though she very much considered this a victory, and flounced off in a manner totally uncharacteristic of her. Harry, being tired, left, though he wondered what exactly "a victory" meant. Was this some sort of ongoing battle?

000

In the days that followed, Harry visited the hospital wing every night, taking Ron and Hermione with him. He would not have done so voluntarily, but he was rather bad at keeping secrets, and Hermione was awfully good at bullying him into things. They did not learn much more about what was going on with their Potions Master, but they did come to appreciate his sense of humor (they were at first surprised that he had one at all). However, "they" really means Hermione, because the boys were usually too oblivious to notice sarcasm and irony, not to mention the dry sort of gallows humour that Snape usually deployed.

It was a remarkable phenomenon, but while Professor Snape was housed in the hospital wing, many fewer students got ill or injured. Madame Pomphrey began to say that Snape should take up permenant residence there.

There was no sign of Dumbledore, which Harry found odd. Judging from what he had seen before, Dumbledore was obviously trying to get Severus to do something, and now the the Professor was captive, it seemed logical that Dumbledore would be there to harrass him. This natrually led Harry to the conclusion that Dumbledore was plotting something. This conclusion of course led Harry to the thought that it was usually something exciting when Dumbledore plotted something, and so he anticipated the something with great curiosity, even though Harry had no idea what it was.


End file.
